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European Xbox Live Football Free-For-All Weekend Announced

While Microsoft ran an Xbox Live free for all last month, it was restricted to North America, so Microsoft Europe announced today it will host a similar weekend for EA's 2006 FIFA World Cup, starting Monday, May 8th, at 08:01 and ends Monday, May 15th, at 07:59.

Do you live, breathe and dream football? Do you love playing games with your friends, winning prizes and getting loads of stuff for free? If your answers are all 'yes' then you should take part in the Xbox Live Football Free-For-All, announced today by Xbox and sponsored by adidas.

The Xbox Live Free-For-All starts Monday, 8th May at 08:01 and ends Monday 15th May at 07:59.

Xbox Live is the world's first, fully connected gaming service with more than two million members. It lets you find friends, play with them through a broadband internet connection and chat with them through a headset as you play. The Xbox Live Football Free-For-All will celebrate all things football in a non-stop, connected world. You can play EA's 2006 FIFA World Cup - in stores from 28th April - with or against your friends over Xbox Live and if you feel like some tougher competition you can register to qualify for the Xbox Cup - taking place right now.

Multiplayer, fully connected gaming action, and the ability to take part in tournaments, is usually only available to Xbox Live Gold members. However, during the Free-For-All, Xbox will flick the switch, giving gamers all over the world full access and the chance to see what everyone, including the football pro's, are talking about. English football star, Ledley King said: "The Xbox Live Football Free-For-All Week is a great chance for everyone to take on their friends over Xbox Live and I'll certainly be looking out for some of my team mates online to give them a game!"

As well as enjoying multiplayer game play, the Xbox Live Free-For-All will keep the excitement coming each day in the form of free downloadable content like trailers for new games, game demos and exclusive gamer pictures - all of which will only be available to Gold members during this period. Plus there's the chance for you and a team of ten friends to win 11, limited edition, 'Xbox 360 – 2006 FIFA World Cup Edition' consoles as well as 11 free subscriptions to Xbox Live. The consoles come with an exclusively designed faceplate, a copy of the 2006 FIFA World Cup game by EA and a voucher for the adidas Match Ball of the 2006 FIFA World Cup

But it's not just about football – there are hundreds of titles available for the Xbox 360 that you can try out over Xbox Live, including Project Gotham Racing 3, Top Spin 2, Perfect Dark Zero, Kameo: Elements of Power plus easy to play, retro style Xbox Live Arcade games.

To make sure you can access Xbox Live during the Free-For-All, all you need to do is plug a broadband cable into the back of your Xbox 360 console. This will give you the standard Xbox Live Silver membership which will be upgraded automatically on the 8th May.

The Xbox Live Football Free-For-All also gives you the chance to represent your country in Berlin this summer by qualifying for the Xbox Cup through Xbox Live. All you need is an Xbox 360 console, a copy of EA's 2006 FIFA World Cup and a broadband connection.

The Xbox Cup, launched two weeks ago by Xbox, adidas and Electronic Arts, is a global competition to find gamers to represent the UK in Germany this summer at the final showdown alongside the FIFA World Cup Finals. There, three players from the UK will compete with 31 other teams from around the world for the Xbox Cup, win tickets from adidas to the FIFA World Cup and bring back a host of other prizes. Because the Xbox Live Football Free-For-All gives you automatic Gold membership of Xbox Live from 8th May to 15th May, it means you can use those seven days to register, play the game online and qualify. If you've got the top leader-board spot on 24th May you'll be playing for the UK at the Xbox Cup in Germany this summer.

Richard Teversham, EMEA Director of Marketing and Platform, Xbox, said: "We're very excited to be working with adidas to bring people the Xbox 360 Football Free-For-All. Football fans and gamers will get the chance to experience just how exciting High Definition, multiplayer gaming can be over Xbox Live. But above all, this is just a brilliant way to get together with your friends and enjoy football. I want to thanks adidas for making this a possibility"

Since Xbox Live launched in November 2002, gamers have spent over 1.5 billion hours on the network playing games online with their friends around the world. This is equal to 65 million days of gaming or close to 200,000 years

Stay tuned to the Xbox Live Calendar pages on Xbox.com in the coming weeks for more information on the schedule of events taking place during the Xbox Live Football Free-For-All.